Nick Jones (pictured), traffic commissioner (TC) for the West Midlands, has revoked the O-licence of Birmingham-based Masons Logistics, after being unable to determine who had legitimate control of the business.

At a public inquiry in Birmingham, the TC added that he could not trust the firm if he did not know who was running its vehicles. During evidence at an initial hearing in May, brothers Andrew and Robert Cecil both claimed they were the firm’s sole director and that the other was not a legitimate director. They gave the same evidence at a second hearing in September, although Robert later offered to negotiate with his brother.

A Vosa examiner visited the operator’s premises on Waterloo Road, Birmingham, in October 2012 after two of its vehicles were issued with prohibition notices at the roadside for safety-critical defects. During his inspection of vehicles and trailers, the Vosa officer issued a further safety-critical prohibition notice after finding a trailer with a long-standing braking defect.

Four safety-critical prohibition notices were issued between September 2011 and October 2012 for defects that drivers should have picked up during their daily vehicle checks.

He told Jones that the operator’s transport manager Karl Starkey, who had been employed shortly before the visit took place, subsequently addressed most of the shortcomings. Before this, the company did not have an effective transport manager in place.

However, Jones concluded: “The fact that I was unable to determine who had legitimate control of the business means that I cannot trust the operator.” The TC told Andrew that he would consider sympathetically any future application involving him if he makes the necessary arrangements.